Hillsboro FFA, Starlite Dairy and Grain partner for Food for America Day

On May 10, the Hillsboro FFA chapter had its annual Food for America Day for their kindergarten students. The host was Starlite Dairy and Grain which is owned and operated by the Shawhan family, who graciously donated their time to make this event such a success. 

The FFA members had 11 stations, which the kindergarteners visited for roughly 20 minutes each. These stations included a hay ride, feed mixing, baby calves and milking, a petting zoo, a tour of the old milking parlor, a tour of the new milking parlor, flower planting, a scavenger hunt, field games, farm machinery and how to make ice cream. 

The idea behind each of these stations was to educate the kids on farm-related activities, but this year we had the chance to be on a dairy farm, so we took advantage of that as well. One fantastic piece of technology that we got to learn about was the milking robot at the New Milking Parlor Station. This machine can track the gallons of milk produced, which cow it is, the number of times the cow attempts to come through and many more detailed statistics about the cows at Starlite Dairy and Grain. 

This year, the kindergarten teachers loved how interactive all of the stations were, and so many kids had a great time. The experiences from this event will stay with these kids for the rest of their time in elementary school and middle school and will help them know if they are interested in FFA when they are able to join in high school.

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